Sweet Paradise
by RemorsefulGalaxies
Summary: The one time he forgot to close the cellar door. One-shot.


**_Ehehe, this game was amazing. I totally recommend it to anyone who likes dark and surreal things. uwu_**

**_Now then, I've been dying to write something about OFF, but I've had no inspiration, until my sister prompted me to write her something with the Sugarie shipping. Don't really ship it, my headcanon sees them more as siblings instead, but it was something to get my writing motivation going, and also a good test to see if i could actually write OFF fanfiction well. So I decided, 'why not?' I wasn't initially intending it to turn tragic, but oh well. _**

**_apologies in advance for any grammatical errors or general terribleness, it's 2AM. uwu_**

**_OFF the game belongs to Mortis Ghost and definitely not me. _**

* * *

He forgot to leave the entrance shut.

It was only the one time, but it still had gone unpunished. What were the odds that _he _would return to Zone 0 now, of all times? There was virtually nothing there, nothing to _purify. _There was _no reason _to return!

But he did, and that was the day Zacharie forgot to close the entrance to the cellar.

Sugar was made of out corpses, and had a horrifyingly and highly addictive property to it. The merchant himself had seen what kind of devastation could be wrought from the sickly sweet substance, as Elsen after Eslen residing in Zone 3 had caved into the desire and blown up out of the destructive addiction.

And sadly, the identical NPC's hadn't been the only victims.

* * *

_He frowned at her from behind his mask, an air of skeptisism about him as he looked at his significant other and the item she possessed. _

_"The fifth element...?"_

_The girl nodded eagerly, with a small giggle, "The most important element," she added, licking some of the white granules off one finger. The merchant shook his head,_

_"It isn't natural, there's something wrong here..." he told her, but his words seemed to be ignored,_

_"Why don't you try some? You'll see what I mean, and what everyone else in Zone 3 means." she offered the bag of the substance to him, but he shook his head, _

_"No thank you, Sucre, I'm not convinced it's entirely safe..." Zacharie told her, "I don't really approve of you getting into this...sugar substance anyway..."_

_Sucre frowned at him, "You're no fun. :-( " she muttered, continuing to indulge in the sweet substance._

_Zacharie sighed, trying to silently entertain the possibility that he may have been reacting overly cautious to the prospect of this new "fifth element." It was artificially made in Zone 3, under mysterious and unknown methods, and so far had gained a huge resounding approval throughout the entire Zone. The Elsens there seemed a little _too _enthusiastic about it. And knowing those NPC's, the lack of general caution was a bit suspiscious. _

_Nevertheless, it could have all been needless paranoia. Perhaps this 'sugar' was somehow beneficial. It at least was the slightest bit humorous to see the generally cowardly attitudes of the Elsen seem to fade under the substance's influence. Perhaps the guardian has made a good move in finding something that the plain characters wouldn't be afraid of._

* * *

Zacharie knew he had no real need to be waiting with his wares in Zone 0, anyway, but as the omnipresent NPC of the game, he felt like it would be appropriate to be there, for some reason. In case for some reason or another the Player would decide to revisit the Zones (and what a fun time that discovery would be.)

He wasn't really expecting the duo to revisit Zone 0, however, due to it's lacking size and features. It also mostly avoided the prospect of being "purified" as well, and seemed to serve as a safe haven from the mysterious Secretary beings that invaded a "purified" land. All in all, a rather ideal location to hide her away in.

As long as he kept the cellar entrance hidden.

* * *

_The news of the arrival of spectres was an unwelcome surprise to the denizens of Zone 3, but for some reason the ominous threats of the arrival were almost immeadiately washed over with supposed reassurances that the invaders were of no harm to the working Elsen._

_The secret behind the production of the mysterious 'fifth element' remained unknown. Everyone seemed perfectly content about it._

_Some of the factory workers had begun to look...a mite on the deranged side as of late, however. There was almost contant talk about sugar, getting sugar, eating sugar, their payment amount in sugar. _

_Sucre was almost no better than these Elsen with their obsession over the treat. She herself was almost constantly trying to get some for herself, almost constantly eating it, talking about it...even teasing Zacharie a bit over his dislike of the substance, which really had no effect on him anyway._

_"Sucre, I'm worried about you, ma chère. I keep hearing about all the incidents in the factories here, not to mention the sudden spectres..." She stared at him, almost blankly as he spoke, and he had to pause mid-sentence to prompt her for her attention, "Sucre! Are you alright?"_

_"Oh...!" she muttered, staring enticingly down at her bag of sugar, which almost seemed to be a permanent part of her these days, "I'm sorry for not listening, what were you saying? :-) "_

_Zacharie sighed, "Sucre, look around...can't you see there's something very wrong with the Elsens around here? Ever since they came out with this stuff they haven't been acting right, this sugar stuff appears to be working in malicious ways..."_

_Sucre frowned and shook her head, "Not malicious at all! Have you never tried it yet? It's the best thing ever! :-)" she insisted, and a stern steely tone made its way into the merchant's voice,_

_"Sucre, I want you to stop. Just looking around...this isn't good for you. I'm taking you away from this Zone." he said, prompting a startled look from his girlfriend,_

_"What...? Zacharie, why...? Can't you see there's...nothing wrong?" she asked sadly, "Everything's perfect, can't you see? Everyone is so happy because-"_

_"They look more deranged than happy..." Zacharie interrupted, "and doesn't it bother you that we still don't know exactly what this stuff is even made of...? It's so different from the other elements, it could be anything..."_

_Sucre mentioned something softly about it being made of 'happiness,' and Zacharie scowled at her from under his mask, deflating her seemingly blissful demeanor; she could tell he was growing impatient with her._

_"Sucre...I'm taking you away from here. Something bad's happening, and I don't want it to happen to you. No more sugar." he said, reaching out to grab her by the arm firmly. He reached for her sugar, to which she quickly whipped out of his reach, _

_"No..." she growled, and Zacharie reached for it again, "No...! It's mine! There's nothing wrong, it's mine! :-("_

_A short fit of scuffling and the bag flew out of her hand, landing on the ground and exploding white granules everywhere. Sucre shrieked, staring at the scattered substance, "N-no! That was mine! I wasn't finished with it yet! Zacharie look what you did...! :-("_

_Zacharie said nothing as he began to urge her away from the mess, mentally wondering where the nearest red block was. He wished at the moment he had his music box, as in the past it enabled him to reach the Nothingness anywhere without the need of a red block. Unfortunately it had been lost somewhere in Zone 3, in areas he wouldn't be able to reach yet._

_He dragged an angry and despairing Sucre to the red block at the entrance of the Zone with difficulty. An embarrassing ordeal it was, as it made him feel akin to a parent dragging their kid from a store mid-tantrum. He ignored the stares from the Elsen as Sucre verbally lashed out at him and attempted several times to break out of his grip and retrieve her prescious sugar. _

_He barely reached within sight of the red cube before Sucre broke away from him, making him grow desperate, "Sucre come back! If you come with me...I promise I'll return the sugar to you...!" _

_It worked, somehow, while also showing how desperate she was to believe that she would regain her substance again. It wasn't a good sign, by any means. It was the last phrase spoken to each other before he led her away to Zone 0, and trapped her in the cellar._

* * *

Zacharie could hear the sounds of her screaming for her addiction from the cellar in his head, despite the cellar being rather soundproofed. Even now, he could still feel her betrayal and anger at being locked away so inhumanely in an attempt to force her to ride out the withdrawal-like behavior.

The masked merchant hoped Pablo wouldn't mind, he hadn't exactly asked to use his cellar, especially for such drastic reasons, and he knew vaguely that the grinning feline had intended it for himself and his late brother Valerie. He hadn't seen the Judge after the events of Zone 2, as he hadn't returned to Zone 0 since. He was a bit unnerved to how the cat would react to Zacharie's rather rash actions in containing his obsessed girlfriend from her unhealthy addiction.

* * *

_Every now and then after her initial lockdown, he would try and go down to the cellar to check on her, only to find she had stopped screaming after the first day and resided to cowering in the corner of the cellar. _

_He tried bringing her food to for nourishment, but she never accepted it. He couldn't force her to eat, and she was beginning to grow thin from the self-inflicted starvation._

_She wouldn't talk to him, but sometimes he'd hear her moving around in the cellar, and he'd catch her dancing by herself when he quietly checked on her. Dancing was something she liked to do, and at least it was some kind of spark she had left of her former self, no matter how delirious the action now looked._

_The dancing was short-lived, and she continued to wallow by herself in the corner of the room, still refusing Zacharie's care._

_He was growing desperate, it was horrifyingly painful to watch her waste away like this. She probably still hadn't forgiven him, she wouldn't even look at him these days. Zacharie kept telling himself it was all for her own good._

_Even if she hated him for it._

_He tried to talk some sense into his wasting significant other, trying to sound comforting and reassuring that she would come out of the addiction all fine, and they wouldn't have to worry about the horrible substance entering their lives again,_

_"Sucre...this is for your own good...you know...?"_

_"Even if you hate me for it, I can't let you do this to yourself. I hear horrible things happening with the residents of Zone 3..."_

_"You're better off without it, like before. Remember before this whole thing? You were better off then..."_

_"Please talk to me, I want you to fight this..."_

_"Sucre please..."_

_She continued to stare through him, mumbling things about dances and pretty days and ducks. _

_He tried embracing her, and she was rigid and unmoving. He held onto her, trying to restrain tears, "I care about you, Sucre. I love you. I want things to be better like they were before, and even if you hate me for making you go without the sugar...I would hate myself even more for letting you get away with it. The Elsens are...going mad..."_

_He sighed, as she posed no reaction. She was like a husk now, hardly alive, as if the damage had already been done. _

_Zacharie left her, within hours of turning his last few words into the biggest lie he'd ever told._

* * *

It was a huge, foolish, stupid mistake. The guilt had overcome the desire for her recovery over time. She was emaciated, inanimate, unresponsive.

It hurt.

And so his words became lies, as his desperation for some kind of response...any kind of response...drove him to bring back mounds and mounds of sugar from Zone 3.

His own previously strong words were now as weak as paper, maybe even less than that. The merchant had so quickly lost his resolve and crumbled under several days of the stress of being detached from Sucre's life. He had stopped listening to his own words, and soon began bargaining with himself, trying to convince himself that maybe Sucre wouldn't end up as bad as the Zone 3 Elsen, she couldn't become Burnt like them anyways. She hadn't seemed as deranged-looking as some of them had, maybe she was able to handle it.

Maybe if he brought her what she wanted, she would come back.

And it was all one huge, stupid, _stupid_ mistake.

He'd surrounded her with her addiction, and yes, she did return to life. But she wasn't the same. Perhaps the damage had been dealt thouroughly, he'd been too late to turn her away from the deadly substance and too late to realize its consequences. He wasn't entirely sure if he preferred her as an unresponsive husk that wasted away in her own world, or a delusional sugar-addict who now wouldn't leave her cellar of sugar.

* * *

_Zacharie had kept her hidden since then, and his visits became less frequent, he only really stopped by to check the sugar levels in the room and to make sure she was recovering her strength from her long period of starvation._

_"Isn't it perfect, Zacharie...? I think it is. When you imagine a perfect day hard enough, I think it might just come true. And look at how perfect it is! :-)" she would say, gazing about her sugary kingdom._

_She had even begun dangling these round, edible figurines made of sugar from strings tied to her fingers, perhaps for fun. _

_He left her unchecked for days at a time sometimes, the thought of seeing what she'd become was almost too depressing to bear. Somehow he was even torn about whether or not he preferred to see her as addicted as she was or as hollow as she had been when he'd deprived her of the sugar. Neither were really her. He wasn't sure what was best anymore._

_One day he went to check on her, seeing her still blissfully licking the substance from her fingers again, giggling, "It's all thanks to my Zacharie :-) He made me a paradise. I feel like the Queen. It's such a perfect day. This sweet paradise belongs to me." she murmured in blind bliss. _

_Zacharie grimaced and turned to leave again, utterly despaired over how deep in this fantasy she was now. He was glad he was leaving, the urge to run and shake her shoulders and ask her to come back was growing bigger with each sparing visitation. What kind of god-forsaken paradise was this? She never left, she never aspired to see the world again. She'd seem to have forgotten all of the memories she and Zacharie had, the day they'd met as his park in Zone 2 and their travels all over the Zones. She was...infuriatingly perfectly content being locked away forever, so long as she never ran out of sugar._

_It was disgusting, truth be told. Zacharie left in a huff, not wanting to look back at her, or listen to her lost ramblings. She was really gone, and he couldn't help bring her back._

_Lost in thought, he left the entrance to the stairway down unlocked. He didn't even notice._

_And maybe two hours later, puppet, Add-ons, and Puppeteer arrived at the Zone's entrance._

_Zacharie hadn't thought much of their arrival at the moment, perhaps the Player had grown curious to see any difference in layout after the purification of the Zones had been finished in seemingly such short time. He saw them wander into the building and through the old and finished puzzle tutorials on each floor, and they seemed surprised to find him waiting there. Like any other time, he greeted them and let the two look over his wares before they left. However, they lingered around on the Zone for a bit longer. Player was convinced somehow that something more had changed besides Zacharie being in the Zone for the first time, to them._

_The Player and the Batter disappeared from view outside, and it was quiet. Zacharie wondered what they could be doing, as they still had to have been in the Zone. The only exit for them was through the doorway behind him and they had left through the one in front of where he stood, toward the Zone's entrance. What could they be looking for...?_

_A horrible realization came after several minutes of waiting for their forms to reappear. _

_The cellar._

_Did he close the door? Certainly he did, he always closed the-_

_No._

_He didn't._

_Not this time..._

_They were gone for so long and the cellar was..._

_And Sucre..._

_But surely she would be docile, she was so often in some kind of fantasy daze that maybe she wouldn't even notice them._

_But by now the Player and the Batter must have discovered the effects of sugar after their purification of Zone 3? He'd been with them at the time when the workers in the Treatment Rooms had begun to flip out. _

_What if they thought Sucre was a Burnt of some kind?_

_No, nonsense. It's not like they attacked every Elsen they met in Zone 3, and he knew they all were addicted as well. Besides, Sucre looked nothing like a Burnt, or a spectre, or anything for that matter. Maybe they'd leave her alone._

_He needed to check._

_But before he could start in the direction of the cellar, the Player and the Batter returned. The Batter was still as emotionless and driven as ever, and the three Add-ons were obediently following behind, but the Player seemed a bit confused, and was eyeing Zacharie almost questioningly. _

_Zacharie was glad the mask hid his horrified expression._

_The two of them, and the Add-ons as well, were covered in blood._

* * *

They'd made small talk with him before leaving the Zone, and Zacharie had stood motionless in place for awhile, trying to comprehend what he just saw.

There...weren't any spectres or any form of malicious entity in the entire Zone for Player and Batter to have encountered. The scenario that had just happened was so obvious, yet so reluctant to come to light as the truth. He couldn't bring himself to go down there, not yet.

Not yet.

But soon he did.

It was just as expected.

Sucre was crumpled onto one side, arms limp, skin ashen, scarlet splattered everywhere, tinting the nearby sugar mounds a ghastly dark pink. Her body bore the marks of someone who had met a bitter end with a blunt object, and by the amount of injuries, it had looked like the struggle had gone on for quite awhile.

He nudged her slightly, as if by some ludicrous hope he expected her to move and still show signs of survival. He knew Sucre was strong, one of the strongest people he knew. That was why their battle had gone on for so long. She was highly resistant, yet...

Yet she had met the end.

Zacharie stared down at her body, not wanting to come to terms that her life had actually ended this way. She'd succumbed to addiction, only either dumbly blissful with it or empty and broken without it. The memories of them had gone, they'd been gone, the whole thing had taken them away from her, and she was to live out her fantasy for as long as she could. There was no concern to leave, no urgency to break away. Zacharie had stupidly let her feed on this addiction that he once so strongly told her was too harmful for her, for at least it brought back some part of her liveliness. Even if it was all false. An illusion.

Zacharie recalled how he'd been too late to keep her from the deadly substance, caved on his own word to never let her come in contact with it again, and finally carelessly left her to be killed, as it basically happened. Perhaps her death was actually on his hands then.

In a small bout of anger, he kicked one of the sugar mounds, sending the stuff scattering across the ground. He growled, lowering to Sucre's side and staying there for quite some time.

Sucre was gone. Really gone. And even before her unexpected end, she had already been gone. A road of irreversible suffering. Even as the self-aware NPC of this video game, he wasn't sure why he never predicted this scenario ever happening.

He stared down at her broken and bloodied body, no longer wasting to pitifully thin status in a detached state or gleefully licking the sugar from her fingers in her delusional fantasy state. She was quiet, and he wondered if he preferred this, as opposed to the other two sides he'd seen to her lately.

The merchant sighed, a lone tear escaping from under his mask,

"I guess it's better that way..."


End file.
